Hotline On Call: Dowd to RNC Members: Simmer Down Now

Obviously the GOP should move to the center on this. If the House members head this message they will blunt a lot of the Dems message. The Dems should be pushing the same thing; action on immigration. They will have more credibility on the issue and crowd out the GOP. This is really important. Ifvoter perceive the GOP as the racist anti-immigration party, it will hobble them for decades. The Dems need to be much more aggressive on this issue and claim it as their own.

BTW, it looks like Bush and the GOP is starting to play small ball. Instead of trying to hit Homers like Social Security "reform," they are trying to get some small wins (new press secretary, admitting more errors in Iraq). Unfortunately,his unpopularity is still dragging on the country down.

Here's a wacky idea: why doesn't the government encourage energy innovation by having contests? $1 Million contest to come up with ways to increase fuel economy by 10 MPG. Why not as a PR move, have the auto corporations and oil companies have a contest? It would be a cheap way to get some good ideas on the table.

Elections Are Crux Of GOP's Strategy

I like the idea of making Iraq the centerpiece of the 06 election. It's risky, but the best move that Rove can do. the key would be the Democratic reaction to that. If you know it's going to be central to their strategy, Dems should move on it. Let's make it a choice about Iraq. Let's make it a national election on that issue. Make every GOP candidate answer lots of question about Iraq. What are we doing, when are we leaving, are we there yet?

The second phase is to attck it in a Rovian way. Get the Iraq Vets for Truth together and start hammering the GOP on why did my buddies die from your lie? Get those ads running and we'd keep the election a referendum on Bush and the GOP. If they are successful in making things a choice, then we will lose again.

NYO - News Story 1

Total NewYorcentric BS. Angell is a fine writer, but he makes a dull game duller sometimes. Showing my own personal bias, I'd place Tom Boswell of the Post as the best baseball writer. If anyone else has a nomination I'd love to start reading their columns. Boswell's sense of history and the place of what he's writing about seem much more fuller than Angell's rare articles in the New Yorker.

The Return Of Voodoo Economics

I hope more folks pick up on this. The fact that tax cuts don't pay for themselves should be a central part of the party's talking points and repeated twice as many times as the Administration lies about tax cuts.

The Least Affordable Place to Live? Try Salinas - New York Times

Intersting and so basic. Supply and Demand drives much more than the price of widgets. It also effects homes. Amazing :)

Hillary Clinton: Too Much of a Clinton Democrat?

I wrote a long posting about this and it got deleted :( Anyways since no one else is reading this, I'll cut to the chase. Kos is right that we should move away from Washington Insiders. He's totally wrong about the netroots being some sort of mainstream. It's just another special interest group. They are obssesed with their media and being invited to the table. Most importantly they are mad at W. Additionally they feel they are the only ones in touch with the mainstream. This righteousness is the same as the black or gray panthers. Environmentalists feel that they are the only ones that can comment on ANWR. If they don't see themselves for what they are, Kos is blind to the truth.

The reforms of the 70s to have more open elections and primaries have dramatically changed the democratic party (mainly by killing any sort of power it had). The motivated primary workers and funders are motivated by something, usually anger. These guys are helpful to anyone running i February when no one else cares. They are special interest groups. Getting elected in November is much more difficult than you can imagine as you have to shift over to the motivated voter. For Dems there is no core voter they haven't already reached. They have to go to the independent voters. When the party panders to special interest groups, they lose these voters.

Outgrowing Jane Jacobs and Her New York - New York Times

What is overlooked in both the New Urbanism and the national immigration issue is how these issues are tied together. The hollowing out of cities like Baltimore and Cleveland rests not with better design (although it would/can help some neighborhoods) but that there are no people that live their anymore. The folks that left or passed away have never been replaced by new immigrants. In cities like LA and Chicago, they eat their young. The cities expand outward swallowing up smaller communities while at the same time receiving an influx of people from their regions. It's the sucking sound of Dubuque and Youngstown to places like Chicago and Atlanta that are killing middle America.

The solution that I suggest is radical, but worthy of some discussion. First, we change the policy to let everyone into the U.S. This eliminates the pointless dollars wasted on walls and law-enforcement. We interview everyone that wants to come in and take photos, detailed medical and personal histories. Anything else that we can do to make sure that they are safe and registered. Anyone that wants to become a citizen gets an ID card. If you don't want to be a citizen, we send you back. We could have a serious time restraint on travel (can't leave the country for 5 years, let's say) and have to pay a fee ($2,500 per person). The key is these folks will help increase the population of the country by filling it with folks that are motivated and willing to sacrifice for citizenship. These are the same people that filled Cleveland and Chicago, they just come from Mexico and Vietnam instead of Ireland and Italy. They will give energy to states like Kansas and North Dakota by filling them with willing workers. It's the best option for a country like the United States, one built on the backs of immigrants that will renew the U.S.'s energy and population.